This invention generally relates to connectors. More specifically this invention relates to an adaptor used to couple a portable communications device such as a cellular telephone, a two-way radio or a pager to a separate antenna, power source, or external communications device.
Many portable communications devices with an internal battery pack are designed to be operable while in a fixed or base station adapter which allows the device to use external peripherals. Communications devices designed to operate from an adaptor usually have externally accessible connections, such as antenna and power connections, to permit the device to be operated from the adaptor.
A problem with operating a portable communications device, using an adapter, has been the reliability of the electrical connections between the device and the adapter. Slight misalignment between connectors on the device and the adaptor can prevent the device from making a connection preventing the device from operating, possibly damaging connectors on the communications device itself. In some applications, a portable communications device might be inserted into and removed from an adaptor thousands of times over the life of the device. Repetitive connecting and disconnecting of misaligned electrical contacts can wear the contacts to the point where an electrical connection cannot be reliably made.
Some prior art adaptors for portable communications devices try to avoid the problems associated with misaligned contacts by relying on judicious placement of mating electrical contacts on the device. Exact alignment between connections in an adaptor and on a communications device is difficult to achieve however because of dimensional tolerances. Other adapters rely on complex mechanical linkages to automatically mate connectors on the device and adapter but these are expensive and may be themselves unreliable.
A problem with adapters used in vehicles has been the degradation of the electrical connections caused by vibration in a vehicle. Vibration occurring in a vehicle can be transmitted to an adapter for a communications device and degrade the electrical connections between the device and the adapter.